India’s Political and Media attack on Islamic Social Laws Distracts from the True Social Ills Suffered by Women under its Secular Liberal System
Press Release
On December 10th, India’s right wing
party Shiv Sena asked India’s PM Narendra Modi to bring changes in Shariah law
practiced by Muslims in the country days after the Allahabad High Court termed
the practice of triple talaq as ‘cruel’. The request for a reformation of
Islamic Law is argued to be in the interest of Muslim women. An editorial in
Sena mouthpiece Saamana said; “The
Allahabad High Court had asked whether there should be changes in Shariah.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi should say yes without seeking anyone’s advice.
What the High Court said …..reflects the feeling of the country and the pain of
Muslim women. Those torturing Muslim women in the name of Muslim personal law
should be branded anti-nationals and punished”. The debate on the validity
of triple talaq has intensified after the Allahabad high court on Thursday
termed the practice as “most demeaning”
which “impedes and drags India from
becoming a nation”.
If one understands the geneses of the Sena
Party itself, we can see that it is no position to be an advocate for any Human
Rights issue be they related to Muslim women or otherwise. The organization has
its roots in an extremist nationalistic dogma that advocated the discrimination
of impoverished migrant South Indian’s in order to give preferential treatment
for Maharashtrians. Shiv Sena cadres became involved in various attacks against
the South Indian communities, vandalizing South Indian restaurants and
pressuring employers to hire Marathis. Furthermore, the party is well known to
have a powerful hold over the Bollywood film industry and as such has been
labeled as chauvinistic for supporting the objectifying and exploiting of women
– which is the true meaning of ‘demeaning women’. The real danger to women in
India is not one that exists in any Islamic law but one that can only be found
in the hypocritical, criminal and corrupt Capitalist liberal democratic systems
that allow women to be exploited for profit and that promote and celebrate
sexual freedoms which has caused the epidemic of rapes and other sexual crimes
against women in India. Attacks on Sharia Law therefore serve only as a
smokescreen to divert the attention of citizens from the widespread abuse of
women caused by capitalist and liberal values. Furthermore, the mass poverty
faced by Indian women, the epidemic of violence and fear, the caste system that
limits the social mobility of females, female infanticide, as well as the host
of other problems faced by women in India exist under India’s secular rule and
non-Islamic traditions and have no link to Islamic Law at all.
It is not the reformation of Sharia Law that
will elevate the status of Muslim or non-Muslim women in India. Rather it is
breaking the allegiance of the people to the liberal democratic values and
secular system that have failed to deliver anything but misery to millions of
India’s women. No authority can be superior than Allah (swt) in deciding the
best manner in which to treat any person in society. Sharia Law as implemented under
the shade of the Khilafah State has always elevated the status of the people
that it ruled over, so much so that millions converted to Islam after seeing
its justice, including women who continue to be the foremost in conversion to
Islam, including in the West. That is why you find millions of Muslim women in
India today being fully aware that Islam is the only just system to bring them
out of the misery of man-made systems.
O Muslim women of India, we pray to Allah (swt)
that you remain strong and steadfast in the secular attack against the Ahkaam
of Islam. And we call you to support the urgent establishment of the true
political entity that will protect your Deen and serve your needs – the second Khilafah
(Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood. Allah (swt) says,
﴿وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَا أنزَلَ اللّهُ
فَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ﴾
“Whoever does not rule
according to what Allah has revealed, they are the oppressors.” [5: 45]
Women’s Section
in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
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